Bracket construction



June 20, 1933. H, B HYAMS 1,914,720

BRACKET CONSTRUCTION Filed' May 24, 1930 HERBERTB.HYAM5 A TToRNE ys i Patented June 20, 1933 HERBERT' B. HYAMS, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA l:BRACKET CONSTRUCTION M Application filed. May 24,

This invention relates to a shelf-supporting bracket, adapted to be quickly attached to a supporting standard, and embodying a construction parts of which can be stamped '135 from sheet metal, which construction is unusually sturdy with a very small amount of cheap material.

Objects of the Vinvention are: to provide a skeleton shelf-supporting structure, parts of which can be stamped from sheet metal; to provide brace means which can be formed from wire, Yby bending the wire upon itself and properly attaching it; which provides means utilizing the support to which the article is attached as means for receiving' part of the thrust of the wire brace element when the shelf-supporting Idevice is attached to a vsupport and is under load; to provide a cheap way of bracing the structure against vertical or gravity strains; to provide a form of attachment which braces the device against swinging motion in horizontal direction around the support; and generally to provide a cheap and eliicient structure for purposes herein.

Along with the broader features of the invention are included all details of conlstruction, and the method of utilizing the support to sustain part of the thrust of a bracket-bracing element.

Objects, advantages, and features of the invention will appear in the description of the drawing forming a part of this application, and in said drawing:

Figure 1 1s a side elevation showing the bracket attached to a support;

Figure 2 is a plan section on line Qf-Q of Figure 1 viewing the bottom of the bracket;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical section illustrating the bracket-attaching means, and the means for securing the brace element;

Figure 4 is a vertical section substantially on line l--4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary detail plan further illustrating the construction for attaching the device to a support;

Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view through the standard and channel element,

illustrating certain contact relations between their surfaces; and

1930. Serial No. 455,322.

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic plan showing the relations of the brackets when they are connected to standards which are adjacent the abutting ends of two cases.

The configuration of the device in plan is best shown in Figure 2. rlwo angularly related arnis, respectively designated 1 and 2, are provided and each of these arms is provided with an extension 3 coplanar with the faces of greatest area of the arms, and each arm, as well as each extension, is provided with an up-turned lug 5, see Figure 1, which, with the up-turned lug 6, arranged substantially at the junction of the arms, forms means for securing a shelf 7 against sliding 65 motion (generally horizontal motion) upon the arms. The bracket member, with the eX- ception of the wire brace, is stamped from a single piece of sheet metal. After stamping, the lugs 5-6 are bent in one direction and a portion l0 of the stamping is bent at right angles to the arms in an opposite direction, as shown in Figures 1 and 3. This portion 10 has two side portions, bent as shown at 11, to form a groove or channel 12 which is adapted 75 to snugly fit over a rectangular element 14, in the manner best shown in Figure 2, to positively prevent horizontal swinging motion. The side 10 engages flatly against this element 14, as shown in Figure 3. The channellike element 14 is suitably attached to a standard 25, and is provided with keyhole slots 15. Threaded bolts 16 are provided and have heads within and engaging the inner face of the channel and have shanks extending through the keyhole slots 15 and through openings 18 in the portion 10 of the support. Suitable thumb nuts 2O cooperate with the bolts to clamp the face of the element 10 against the corresponding face of the element 14. The standard 25 formed from T-iron is detachably held in sockets 26 carried by a counter or case 27. The manner of mountino' the standard forms no part of the present int vention.

Valuable features of the invention relate to the cheap means for trussing the arms 2 and 3 against vertical load, and to the formation of the element 10 in a manner to secure one end of the truss in operative position. The 10o bracing means comprises a single piece of wire, bent to provide arms 30-31, each attached as by riveting at 32, to corresponding arms 1 and 2, the terminals of the wire being flattened by pressing, to receive the rivets.

The wire provides a short straight portion 35 which engages fiatly against the outer surface 36 of the element 14, as best shown in Figure 3. The lowei` end of theportion 10 of the armed bracket is bent, as shown at 37, to provide a hooklike socket facing toward the surface 36 of the element 14, and adapted to receive the portion 35 of the wire brace. After the nuts 2O have been tightened, the element 37 is under tension against the element 35, which is thus pressed against the surface 36. No great compression need be applied, only sulicient to prevent rattling.

'I In order to prevent movement of the part 35,

in an axial direction, a sharp bend is made as at 40 on one side of the element 37, and a compound bend at 41 on the other. The distance between these bends is substantially equal to the width of the element 37, and the object is to provide stops to prevent the aforesaid axial motion. It so happens, in this design, that the arms 1 and 2 are arranged laterally of the support 14, but there is no intention to be limited to this particular arrangement of the arms, although the same are claimed as a specific structure embodying the principles of the invention.

It will be noted that the thrust at point 35 is received by the elements 14 and 37, and that stops are so arranged with reference to the portions 35 and 37 that the brace can` not move across the face 36 of the element 14. This construction, in addition to the provision of a socket 12 which cooperates with the support to prevent swinging motion in a horizontal direction, provides a very sturdy device which can be very cheaply constructed.

Another feature of the invention relates to the relation of the parts 10 and 11 to the surfaces 36 and 25a respectively of the elements 14 and 25. This relation is shown in Figure 6. Vhen the edges of the element 11 abut the surface 25a the inner surface of the element 10 is spaced from the surface 36a. Therefore, when the nuts 2O are manipulated to press the element 10 towards the face 36, the edges 11n are forcibly thrust against the surface 25a.

It will be noted that the thrust engagement between the edges of the elements 11 and the surface 25 (due to the tensioned condition previously mentioned) conditions the channel elements to resist rocking motion in a vertical plane parallel with the face 36, as well as to resist swinging motion about the standard in a horizontal plane.

Another feature of the invention is thel arrangement shown in Figure 7 wherein two show cases 40 and 41 have their ends substantially abutted and in which a standard is attached to each show case, the standards being adjacent one another and the abutting ends of the cases. A bracket is attached to each standard, each bracket comprising spaced arms, with one arm of each bracket respectively indicated 42-43 angularly related to and lying at opposite sides of a vertical plane which passes between the cases, and with the arms divergent with respect to one another and to their points of attachment. Referring to one of the brackets (and it will be understood that the remarks apply equally to both) Assuming an axis A passing through the standard 25 perpendicular to the face 36a. It will be seen that both arms 42-45 form an acute angle with this reference plane on the same side of the line. This gives the shelf what i may be termed an eccentric relation with respect to the line A. The extensions 3 are spaced from the vertical reference plane which is the plane of the end of the case.

In some instances a passageway is formed between the cases and it is desirable to have one of the arms or one of the edges of the shelf spaced inwardly from a vertical plane which passes through the end of the case, so

that persons passing between the cases will not be likely to come in contact with the shelf, or goodsthereon. This angular relation distinguishes from the arrangement wherein the edge of the shelf was in substantial parallelism and substantially in a vertical plane which passes through the end of the case.

I claim as my invention:

1. A bracket having an attaching portion and two angularly related arms forming an.

angle with said attaching portion, and a brace formed from a single length of material bent upon itself and having its free ends attached to respective arms, and having its bent portion passing rearwardly of and around said attaching portion to lie between said portion and a support to which the device is attached.

2. A bracket having an attaching portion and two angularly related arms forming an angle with said attaching portion. and a brace formed from a single length of material bent upon itself and having its free ends attached to respective arms and having its bent portion passing rearwardly of and around said attaching portion to lie between said portion and a support to which the device. is attached, and said attaching portion having means securing said bent portion, against translative motlon.

3. A bracket member having an extension adapted to be engaged with a support and having arms angularly related to said extension, a single piece of wire bent to provide angularly related portions,means connecting said portions to respective arms, said extension having means about which the bent portion passes, in a manner to be between the support and said means when the extension is placed against the support, said means being adapted to be put under tension against said bent portion to press it against said support when the bracket is attached, and means for forcing the bracket against and attaching it to the support.

si. In combination with a support having a rectangular member attached thereto, a bracket member providing an extension having portions atly engaging lateral faces of said member and having their edges engaging the face of said support and further having a third surface spaced from another face of said member, said extension having arms angularly related thereto, and a piece of wire bent to provide angularly related portions, means connecting said portions to respective arms, said extension having means about which the bent portion passes in a manner to be between said means and the support, said means being adapted to be put under compression against said bent portion to press it against the member when the eXtension is clamped and means for clamping the extension to the member to put said extension under compression.

5. A bracket having an attaching portion and two shelf-supporting extensions angularly related to the attaching portion, and to one another, and a brace composed of a single piece of wire bent upon itself to form two arms attached to respective shelf-supporting extensions, the bent portion passing around said attaching portions to lie between it and the support to which it is attached, and said attaching portion and brace adjacent the bend being so formed as to cooperate to prevent detachment of said loop portion Jfrom said attaching portion, and said eXtensions having means which are adapted to act on a shelf supported by the extensions to prevent detachment of the shelf by motions parallel with the plane in which the extensions lie.

6. A one piece bracket stamped from sheet metal and formed to provide a channel to slidingly and guidingly receive a support to which the shelf is attached, said bracket providing an angularly related shelf-supporting extension, a brace for the extension composed of a single piece of wire bent upon itself and having its free ends attached to the extension, said bracket having a linger having a concave side adapted to face toward the support when the bracket is attached, the bent portion of said wire being engaged around the finger to lie between it and the support, and means by which the bracket can be clamped to the support.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 21st day of May 1930.

HERBERT B. HYAMS. 

